I recently read Love Comes Softly for the second time, having read the first years before. I was in high school then, and a love story that snuck up on you wasn't what I was looking for, so I stopped at the first book in the series. I'm sorry I did. I would have enjoyed Love's Enduring Promise more.

The story picks up a couple of years after the end of LCS and we are treated to anecdotes and thoughts told from Marty's point of view, but we're also let in on almost every other character's first person feelings at least once. Love doesn't come so softly in this book, it's a pretty recurring subject in the different characters, both minor and major.

This is a very quick read (I read it in less than a day, and I have three small children) which makes it appealing. My criticism comes with the brevity of the chapters, and the way Mrs. Oke skips over seasons to get to another year. Personally, I prefer to either have either a little more detail, or I simply like to turn the page and find a year has passed with a quick review of the changes in the narrative. It seems to me that the author wrote this book solely to let us know what happens to our favorite characters in the first and may have cheated us a little on the character building. Also, as in the first, I found it a little difficult to read the Pioneer language as it's spoken. Something I'm able to overlook and embrace as a talent of Mrs. Oke's, but just beware that it is as prevalent here as it is in the first novel.

But 99% of me loved the book. I was pleased to see many of the characters from the first happily included in both the sequel AND the Davis family. There are a couple of characters I would have liked to have more insight into, but perhaps further along in her series I'll find satisfaction.

Highly recommended.